County to vote on Pegasus in first meeting for new commissioners

LAS CRUCES — As two new faces join the Doña Ana County Commission, the five-person board on Tuesday will weigh in on a much-discussed mock city planned by Pegasus Global Holdings.

The commission also will pick a new leader for the year.

The meeting will be the first for newly sworn-in Commissioners David Garcia of District 2 in the south county and Wayne Hancock of District 4 on the East Mesa. Both are Democrats who were elected in November.

The board will vote on a measure to support the mock city project, dubbed the Center for Innovation, Testing and Evaluation, and cooperate with Luna County and Pegasus Global Holdings in its development.

"Because where Pegasus is looking at going intersects with one of the (Doña Ana County) roads, it's just saying we'll work with them on that," said acting County Manager Sue Padilla, of the proposed resolution.

Company officials have said the project would entail construction of an average American city aimed at testing technologies, in the realms of smart grids, transportation and water. It would create about 350 direct jobs and more indirect jobs, the company says.

A location in Doña Ana County had been in the running for CITE, when the company instead selected a parcel in Lea County, near Hobbs, last July. Within weeks, the company had backed out of that deal, saying problems had cropped up with the proposed land.

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In early December, a location south of Interstate 10 between Deming and Las Cruces was selected by Pegasus Global Holdings for the mock city. The facility would be mainly in Luna County, but a private access road could be in located in Doña Ana County, according to county documents.

The item appears on the consent agenda, typically for routine business items.

But County Commissioner Billy Garrett said it might be pulled off for a discussion. Garrett said he hasn't decided how he'll vote.

"Part of what I"m looking for is going to be the presentation and the discussion," he said.

The proposal Tuesday would pledge that Doña Ana County will cooperate with Luna County and the company, such as by providing relevant information, according to the document. Also, it would ask Luna County to keep Doña Ana County updated about progress.

Garrett said the proposal has "always been intriguing," partly because of the jobs it could create. But he said he's cautious about the possible concerns that could crop up.

"That goes with any large proposal," he said. "I want to understand more about what exactly they're proposing and what the conditions are."

Garcia, who replaces former County Commissioner Dolores Saldaña-Caviness, indicated he also hasn't decided how he'll vote.

"I'm going to be waiting for the discussion led by our president," he said.

Hancock said he still needed to review the item.

Chair elected

The County Commission will take a different approach in selecting the next chairperson.

For a number of years, the commission chair rotated from one person to the next, based on the sequence of the five commission districts.

But last year, commissioners revised the policy, reverting to a prior practice of electing the chairman or chairwoman each year from among their own ranks.

"There was the sense of the commission that the election of the chair allowed for the group to decide who they felt was best-positioned to provide a certain amount of leadership for the group," Garrett said, of last year's revision. "It doesn't give the chair any more authority than any of the other commissioners."

The past policy had sometimes resulted in newly elected commissioners being named as the chairperson, just after taking office, Garrett said.

"I think we just felt this was a better approach," he said.

The policy was changed last year, but Tuesday is the first time it will be carried out.

Garrett said the policy does limit the number of years a person can be the chair consecutively to two.

Garcia said plans to support "somebody that has the experience" for the position. He noted there are three commissioners who've been on the board a while.

Asked if he'd consider the role, Hancock replied: "I doubt that I'd be nominated, but I'd be very flattered."

County Commissioner Karen Perez has been the chair for the past year. The fifth member is County Commissioner Leticia Duarte-Benavidez, who was re-elected in November to her second, four-year term.

Said Garrett: "I'm sort of waiting to see how this is going to go. Let's just see how it works out on Tuesday."

The commission is also slated to assign its members to a number of other boards, commissions and authorities for the year.

Diana Alba Soular can be reached at (575) 541-5443; follow her on Twitter @AlbaSoular